Girl's Day Out
by ShipperWriter
Summary: On her day off, Jennifer invites Rodney to spend the day with her. Soon it turns into a week! McKeller ship and McShep friendship.
1. Cooped up in the lab

Down in some dark area of the city of Atlantis, Dr. Rodney McKay was sitting in his lab, muttering various nonsense, mainly about stupid, incompetent scientists, a new mathematical system that he was close to devising, and continually informing his stomach that, no, he was not on a hunger strike and yes, he was almost done and then I'll get something real to eat.

He heard a tap on the door as John Sheppard walked in. "Hey buddy," John said by way of greeting.

Rodney kept his eyes glued on the monitor, raised his hand and said, "Hey John," and then lowered his hand and continued typing manically.

John shrugged, noticing that Rodney was intently focused on his work, and sat down in a swivel seat on the other side of the raised desk. Placing his elbows on the desk, he took advantage of Rodney's no-time-to-chat gestures and glanced around the lab.

There were at least 3 -- no, make that 4 -- powerbar wrappers on various surfaces. Unfortunately, John had seen them there at least two days ago. He spotted at least four empty coffee cups, posted at strategic points around the lab. Something that appeared to be an energy drink was sitting precariously next to Rodney's keyboard, and from the condensation on the outside, John could tell that he had just opened the drink and consumed more than half within the last five minutes.

And a graphic tee was laying over the back of another chair. _Oh God_, John thought to himself, _Rodney hasn't left his lab all day._

"McKay," John suddenly barked, glancing at his fingers as they twiddled around each other.

Rodney glanced up. "Yeah?"

John sighed, and rolled his neck. "When was the last time you actually stood up, or left your lab or, oh, here's a good one, _used the bathroom or those wonderful quarters that we gave you?!_"

Rodney cringed a little, but quickly straightened up. "John, I've been extremely busy all day, and everything that's in here" -- he pointed to his head -- "is so close to coming out in here" -- pointing at the computer screen -- "so it's not practical to leave my lab to go and indulge myself in a bubble bath--"

"T . . . M . . . I, Rodney," John informed him, grimacing and covering his face with his hands.

"--And then while I'm enjoying myself, all of the disconcerting things that have been in my head decide to manifest themselves, and I have no way to record them because all my equipment is here! And yes, sometimes I do put the tablet in the bathroom, but last time when I laid it back down on the cart it teetered into the water . . . And the cord was plugged in."

"Very disturbing."

"Yes, well, these are the facts of my life. And you, John Sheppard," he retorted, standing, "have decided that you want to try and be my friend, which means that no matter how disgusting or superbly genius they may be, you have to listen to what happens to me!"

John shrugged again and stood. "Ok. Back to square one. When was the last time you left your lab?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe four hours ago, about dinnertime? I ran to get some food and -- oh," he quietly replied as he sat back down, crossing his arms on the table in front of him.

"'Oh'? What does that mean, McKay?"

"It means I ran into Jennifer."

John pursed his lips. "Last time I checked, that was a good thing."

Rodney's dark expression lifted, as did the corners of his mouth. "Oh, no, no, yes, it was a good thing! We made plans for tomorrow, and she already had the day off, but I didn't, so I went to Woolsey and asked for it off, and he told me the only way that he would grant it was if I finished enough research on that device we found on 483 last week to 'make it worth the IOA's while'. And then some incompetent scientist, one of the new ones from Daedalus, screwed up an experiment that Radek had been working on for the past month, so he asked for my help to get it back on its feet, and after rudely reminding me that I owed him a favor, I helped. That took two hours or so. So I've been sitting here, skipping dinner, which, you know me, John," he said, glancing at Sheppard looking for a sympathy vote, "missing dinner is likely to kill me."

"Along with ten billion other things in the universe, yes," John replied, nodding.

"And I cooped myself up here in my lab to get it all finished," he replied, typing on his keyboard and with a dramatic flourish, he hit the enter key. "And now I am done."

John looked around for a minute, then whistled. "All that . . . Just for a date with a girl?"

"She's not just any girl, Sheppard." He grinned. "It's Jennifer."

John smiled, then started walking for the door. "All right, c'mon, Rodney."

"Why? Where are we going?"

"First we're getting dinner. Then I'm grabbin' some beer and we're goin' to the pier." He paused and turned in his tracks, looking at Rodney next to him. "Hey, what do ya know? It rhymes," he announced, grinning proudly.

The faint giggles of two adult men were heard throughout Atlantis after the sun had gone down that night.


	2. After getting drunk on the pier

Thanks to all the members at the McKeller /forum. Y'all asked for fic ... it only took me a week but it's here!!! Hope ya like it! Probably one or two more chapters for this story in the future ...

And yadda yadda yadda I don't own them. Stop reminding me ...

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The evening went downhill after their arrival at the pier. Sheppard had run out of beer (and gotten just a little bit drunk); McKay had decided that he could test his new theory of physics by belly flopping off the pier; Sheppard had saved him from the brink of death (again).

So after that partial wake-up call, the two had sauntered off to their quarters, and as Sheppard passed Evan Lorne in the hallway he said, rather slurred, "Hey, buddy, what's shakin'?"

Lorne stopped dead in his tracks as the lieutenant colonel continued walking past him, using the left wall as a support. The major turned to look behind him as Sheppard waved his hand over the door to his quarters, waved his hand again when it failed to open, and kept waving his hand over the wrong side of the door.

Sheppard let his arms down for a minute, snorted as he said, "Huh," and just as Lorne made a move to go to help him, the colonel figured out what he had been doing wrong and started -- _giggling_?

"Oops, wrong side," John grinned as the doors opened after passing his arm over the right side. He barely walked inside and as the doors shut he threw back over his shoulders, "G'night, Evan."

Lorne shook his head and smiled. Something to hold over the boss' head. Just as he turned the corner he heard a thud from inside his quarters.

A high-pitched, mumbled, "Yeah I'm fine," and snorting trailed off as sleep got the better of him, and Lorne walked away, trying very hard to keep from laughing.

He succeeded till he ran into a group of Marines.

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Rodney stumbled into his quarters after having . . . _how many beers?_ He'd stopped counting after --

"Rodney!" a slightly shocked and embarrassed voice yelped out from the darkness of his room.

He squinted and, upon realizing after blinking for five seconds straight that his vision still wasn't improving, managed to croak out, "Lights."

Being nighttime in Atlantis, the lightning levels were dim compared to the daytime, but to Rodney's extra sensitive eyes, it seemed as if he had just gained back his sight and to test it out, he looked straight into sunlight.

Stupid, McKay. Real stupid.

"Jennifer! Wha -- how -- whatcha doin' here?" he asked, grinning lazily and raising his arm to lean on the door frame.

"I've been trying to get in touch with you for the past hour!"

He pushed off the wall and walked towards her. "Yes, well, I've been bottled up," he replied, that grin still on his face, but as his intoxicated mind processed it and realized it didn't come out quite the way he thought it would, the smile lessened. "Anyway, what did you need me for?"

Jennifer groaned and paced around the room, frustrated at how drunk -- or how faux drunk -- that he was. "I don't know if your Swiss cheese like brain remembers this--"

"Hey!" He was lucid enough to see the insult.

"But around five hours ago, I ran into you, asked you if you had the day off, if you wanted to spend it with me, just hanging out or doing something, McKay, God, I don't know! And what did you do? You took off running away from me, not a word or anything, and I find you, five hours later, drunk as a skunk in your quarters!"

McKay's brain suddenly emptied itself of all the alcohol and all the blood drained out of his face as Jennifer's words dawned on him. "Oh my God, Jennifer . . . I am so, so incredibly sorry! I didn't even -- God, great move, McKay!" he yelled, reprimanding himself.

Jennifer stared onwards, arms crossed, lips closed tightly, waiting for a proper response.

"I have a very rational explanation for this."

"You always do, McKay. Out with it." She took a seat on his nicely made bed and watched him.

Rodney smacked himself on the head. "I was -- when I ran into you, all I was thinking about was eating."

"Sounds rational so far. Keep going."

"When you asked me if I wanted to spend the day with you, everything in my brain shut down, and all I was thinking is, 'What do I have to do today so I can be with her tomorrow?' So, of course, Atlantis would probably explode a million times over without my expertise, ergo, I didn't have the day off. So I went straight to Woolsey and told him, 'I need a personal day tomorrow, you'll just have to get by without me', and--"

"I know it probably didn't happen exactly like that, but I'm gonna guess he told you no?"

"He told me I could, but only if I got caught up on all my work including what I would need to do tomorrow so I ran back and was trying to get it all done and a gazillion more disasters erupted, so I still hadn't eaten dinner, I hadn't left my lab since, and when Sheppard found me, I was on the edge so he took me for a beer."

"Or four," Jennifer surmised as he sat down next to her.

"Yeah," he replied, leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees as they supported his head. "I'm so sorry, Jennifer, I didn't even think of what it looked like to you. I just--" He turned upwards to face her. "I just wanted to be with you so badly, that I did everything that I had to do. Plus more, and some that I shouldn't have."

"Yeah, the beer was probably a step too far," she giggled.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "Will you forgive me?"

She smiled and nodded at him. "Yeah, of course I will." She accepted his outstretched arms around wrapped them around herself, and sighed contentedly. "You know, Rodney," she spoke quietly, "you should probably get to bed. We have to leave early tomorrow."

He nodded, then as he leaned over to take off his shoes, he helped him shrug out of his jacket. He pushed himself back to the pillow and she stepped up off the bed, pulling the blanket back for him to get underneath.

As he lay down, quite comfortably, and Jennifer was pulling up the covers, there was still one unanswered question that was lingering in his mind. "Jennifer?"

"Yeah?"

"How _did_ you manage to convince Woolsey to give you the day off?"

She sat down on the right side of his bed, next to him. "Well, let's just sat that Woolsey and I . . . have an understanding."

It was never thought possible, but Rodney's face contorted, looking somewhat like a Picasso. One corner of his mouth went up; the other went down. His eyes got very big and narrow at the same time. He wrinkled his nose.

"_An understanding?!_ What kind of understanding?!"

Jennifer simply smiled, leaned down, and kissed him.

As she tried to pull back and whisper, "Good night, Rodney," he kissed her back tenderly and deeply, slipped his arms around her waist, and held her to him. She didn't even try to leave again, slipping off her shoes and jacket while still kissing him (he was helping too), she moved the covers and slid in next to him, releasing the kiss and laying her head on his chest. He picked up her right hand and held it to his mouth, kissing it and laying it gently on his left shoulder.

They both fell soundly asleep within five minutes.

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Early the next morning, the morning light had just peeked through the windows in Rodney's room. They were still in the same position as they had been when they fell asleep, but the two of them had already been awake for fifteen minutes. Jennifer was gazing out the window and thinking about the day's activities with a look of peace about her; Rodney was still smiling happily as he kept his eyes locked on her, the question from the night before still fluttering through his mind.

"Seriously, though, what kind of understanding?"

She burst out laughing and moved up the bed so that her head was directly over his. She leaned down and placed a brief kiss on his lips, and moved back to her original position, sighing and chuckling.

Rodney wrapped his arms around her again, holding her even tighter and smiling to himself.


	3. Getting ready to go

A cold spell had come through the city during the night, and while Rodney had gotten out of bed and was starting to clean himself up, Jennifer snuggled up to the pillows, pulled the covers up to her neck and curled up in his bed.

Rodney saw her reflection in the bathroom mirror; he gazed at her and smiled. He honestly didn't know what he had done to deserve this beautiful, wonderful woman who strangely wanted to be with him. On the other hand, he had a list of all the reasons why she shouldn't want to be with him, but anytime he thought about adding onto the list, he would see her smile, or hear her laugh, or remember a past memory with her in it, and it melted him into a limp mass.

She yawned just as Rodney finished shaving. "So," he intoned, cleaning his razor and putting it back in the cabinet, "what do you have planned on this wonderful day that I nearly killed myself to get off scot free for?"

She grinned, knowing full well that he was completely exaggerating. He knew it as well, and he smiled back at her, moving to the bedside and sitting down next to her. She had sat up in the bed and blinked a few times, trying to clear the sleep out of her eyes.

"Well . . . first off, I probably should tell you something."

Rodney tilted his head, looking a little quirked. "Okay . . ."

"It's not going to be just one day."

"What's that supposed to . . . oh crap, does that mean I still have more work to do?!"

"No, no," she laughed, trying to calm him as a frazzled expression appeared on the scientist's face. "I had already talked to Woolsey before you did. Granted, you did have to finish all the work that you would have produced today, but the deal was that we got a week off."

Rodney's face lit up when he heard "a week off" but he immediately narrowed his eyes into very thin slits. "Okay, back to my original question. What kind of understanding?"

"Pardon?"

"You said you and Woolsey had an 'understanding'," he repeated, making quotation marks in the air. "And I have to admit, that now that little fact is . . . well it's freaking me out to be perfectly honest with you!" he answered in his hurried style.

Jennifer sighed. "It's complicated. Let's just say doctor/patient confidentiality exists for a reason, okay, Rodney?"

"Doctor/patient confidentiality didn't exist when you told Sam that I didn't regular exercise!"

"Like I said, I don't think that Sam was shocked to hear that. And I didn't say anything outright, I simply . . . hinted."

Rodney's face assumed its natural expression after he mulled it over for a few moments while she was talking. "Okay, okay, okay. So where are we going?"

Jennifer smiled, then pushed the covers down, uncovering her legs. "I'm not saying anything specific. You'll guess too easily."

"Earth?" he quickly asked, looking hopeful.

She cast her eyes downwards, smiling to herself. "I knew it. You just had to guess."

He grinned and jumped up from the bed. He grabbed his duffel bag, which he had started packing last night, and began adding some more clothes to the pile which was rapidly accumulating. Meanwhile, Jennifer could hear him mumbling to himself, rather happily, about "not being responsible for those incompetent idiots anymore" and a few other ideas that popped into his head.

She remarked to herself, _He really likes calling people incompetent_, then she softly got out of bed and walked right up behind Rodney, sliding her slender arms through his and around his waist.

"Hey," she softly whispered to him.

He dropped something in the bag and slowly turned around, keeping her arms in position around him. "Hey yourself," he replied in the same quiet voice, something that she didn't see much of from him.

A slight smile came to her face as she looked at Rodney. "I love you. You know that?"

Rodney sighed, not in grief but in jubilation. "Yeah . . . I love you too. Sometimes it feels like I always have," he told her, bringing his own arms up and around her. He leaned to kiss her and she met him, gently pressing against his lips, enjoying the slowness of the morning, the cool air, and the rather unique position that she was now in.

She wouldn't have traded it for anything.

He pressed against her lips one last time before drawing back. "Well," he responded after a moment of gazing lovingly upon Jennifer's face, framed by wisps of blonde hair, "I guess I should finish packing."

"Yeah, I should too," she replied. Instead of disengaging her arms from Rodney's, she hugged him closer, and then released him.

Once he had been let go, he quickly turned and resumed his packing.

She chuckled and picked up her jacket from the back of a chair. "I'll meet you in the control room in one hour. Will that be enough time?"

"Yeah, sure, that'll be fine," he quickly answered, his eyes focused on the task at hand.

"Okay," and she turned and left.

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Rodney arrived in the control room approximately 48 minutes later, figuring that it would give him enough time to recheck everything one last time. True, he'd already done it the night before -- and 21 minutes ago -- and he knew that Radek was a fine scientist and if something in the city exploded without warning, he might have a fair chance of solving the problem. Albeit, not as well as Rodney, but hey, what do you expect?

He set down his bag just next to the walkway leading into the balcony. More and more of the command staff frequented the balcony, but everyone knew that if John Sheppard was out there by himself, you don't dare intrude.

For the three years that Elizabeth had been the leader of the city, that balcony had been like their world away from the world. Rodney missed her horribly; in fact they all did, and they weren't ashamed to say so. But some had known that there wasn't just simple friendship between the two leaders. They had been close friends -- very close, as Rodney had found out accidentally one morning, passing Sheppard's quarters and seeing Elizabeth walk out, looking very peaceful.

Although Rodney was a genius, it still took a few glares from Carson Beckett to completely understand.

And earlier, while Rodney had been supervising the room, they had all seen John walk through the doors, so as of right now, the balcony was off-limits.

He glanced at the clock. 9 minutes left until the one hour meeting.

A transporter opened nearby and Jennifer stepped out, carrying one large duffel and one smaller one. Rodney's bags were roughly the same size, except his smaller one consisted of his laptop; Jennifer had explicitly told him to bring it along, because she knew that he would use it.

She knew him too well.

She looked up from a medical report in her hand and smiled when she saw Rodney. "Hey! Almost ready?"

"Sure, just about. Question, though: what is our mode of transportation?"

"Gate, then Daedalus, then 'Gate again. We'll gate to a planet at the edge of the Pegasus and the Milky Way, the Daedalus will already be there, we jump onboard, cross galaxies and then they'll drop us at a planet with a 'Gate and then we'll be on Earth. Travel will be less than a day, which gives up plenty of time to get settled in."

Rodney nodded. "Okay. Chuck, dial it up."

The Canadian tech nodded and the chevrons began engaging around the ring. The blue colors matched the room as the vortex kawooshed and, McKay noted sadly, it also matched the mood of a certain lieutenant colonel standing out on his balcony.

He picked up his bags from the floor. "Tell Sheppard I'll be back, bringing gifts."

"Not sure if he'll believe that one, Doc," Chuck dryly replied. "Have fun."

"Oh, we will," Jennifer replied as she walked towards the 'Gate, bags in hand.

Rodney followed behind her and the week began.


	4. Getting there

A/N -- I'm not really sure where this chapter came from, it's a little more deep and wordy than the previous chapters ... but McKeller focused! I think I maybe can put out one more chapter, and that will kinda tie up all the loose ends, especially as to why Jennifer chose this particular place for a vacation.

Read and enjoy!

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The entire trip actually was quite pleasant, much to Jennifer's satisfaction. She really did love Rodney, but she wasn't a complete idiot; there were still some traits that, if at all possible, should be avoided because despite all the love in the universe that she had for that man, it couldn't cover over some of the arrogant complaining that could have happened.

So now, the two of them had peacefully arrived back at the SGC. Landry was quite happy to allow them to leave, but he asked that each of them submit a brief summarization of the status of Atlantis, as well as an unofficial review of Woolsey's command abilities. "You don't have to write it right now, but just try to have it done when your vacation is over. Understood?"

Rodney and Jennifer nodded quickly and were allowed to exit the office.

They had arrived right at lunch, and that only served to further Rodney's good mood. He and Jennifer quickly got in line and he started babbling on about something that hadn't been of particular interest to her, but it made him happy so she joined in the conversation -- very rarely, as he really never stopped talking.

Even as they were heading out, he was so caught up in what he was saying that he almost ignored Samantha Carter. Jennifer had to smack him on the arm, nod to their former commanding officer, and Rodney's nerd complex halted in its tracks.

"Sam, hey, how are you?" he asked, grinning and extending his hand.

Sam smiled, then glanced at Jennifer, who only shrugged her shoulders and smiled back. "Hey . . . Rodney, I'm great. Good you see you two. What are you doing here, did something happen?"

"Oh, no," Rodney piped up rather quickly. "We're on vacation. Together. Well, uh, I guess it's kinda obvious that we're together but--"

Sam had walked to Jennifer and pulled her into a hug. Into her ear, she whispered, "Are you okay, Jennifer?"

Jennifer laughed and released Sam from the hug. "Yeah. I really am."

The colonel glanced between the two of them. "Well, that's good. You guys look . . . really happy." Her watch beeped and she sighed. "Sorry to cut this short, but I have a debriefing with one of the SG teams in five minutes. Make sure to stop in before you leave, okay?" she asked of them, walking backwards as she spoke.

"Definitely!" Jennifer nodded.

Sam nodded as she smiled and disappeared behind a corner.

Jennifer watched Rodney for a moment, gauging his reaction to Sam. She knew that he had a long-standing crush on the colonel that had gone unrequited, but as long as the two of them had been together, Sam had been back on Earth. She trusted Rodney, but she didn't know how he'd react around her.

Instead of gazing down the hallway, as soon as she departed he turned around with that grin on his face. "So . . . where we going?"

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Their destination was a small secluded beach in Florida. When she had been younger, she and her dad used to come down here on vacation every once in a while. She loved growing up in the coldness that was associated with Wisconsin, but a change of scenery did them all good.

They made their way down the key to a small row of cottages. Most of the island had been overtaken by the monstrosities that they called condos, but down here, on the south side of the island, there were still some smaller lodgings that hadn't been bought out and converted into 20 stories of ugliness. A local had suggested this place one year when they were down on vacation during the winter, and ever since then she and her father had stayed here.

During her last letter to her dad, she had asked him to check them out, see if they were still around. He wrote back and said that not only were they still in business but they had added on a few amenities. She scanned the list, found one thing in particular, and the plans that led them here had started to form in her mind.

"Hmm, these are cute," Rodney remarked as they pulled into the small parking lot in front of the cottages. Jennifer had asked if she could drive; Rodney had absolutely no objections as it gave him extra time to play on his laptop. Thus far, the only complaint that he had registered was that the laptop that the SGC had allowed him to bring didn't have a network broadband card, which meant that he could only access the Internet and the SGC network at Wi-Fi locations.

But any time he started complaining, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that he watched her for a moment, smiled, and the protest was quickly forgotten.

She smiled to herself. She liked having that effect on him.

They pulled into the parking space right in front of a unit, painted a soft yellow, with the number 3 on the door. She turned off the car, got out and reached into the back seat for one of her bags while Rodney remained stationary in his seat, focused intently on the screen.

"Rodney? We're here."

"Yeah, just a sec."

She shook her head, chuckled as she walked around to his door. The windows had been rolled down on the way, so she stuck her head partway in the window, said, "I'm gonna get the key from the office, okay?" and kissed him as he mumbled his agreement.

When she came back to the car, Rodney had shut down his laptop and gotten out of the car, looking around. The units sat at a right angle to the beach; from the road, there was the small parking area, the pool and patio, and then the sand dunes opened up and allowed access to a private beach, solely for the guests.

"Wow, I'm not sure I remember the last time I went to the beach," Rodney remarked as she opened the door to retrieve the rest of her bags.

"Yeah" -- grunt -- "it's been a while since I've been here."

Rodney stood for a second, looking around with his hands stuffed in his pockets, then realizing that she needed help he pulled his hands out and quickly came around. "Here, sorry," he said in his adorable way, and Jennifer started to feel a hint of a blush creeping into her face as he put a duffel on each shoulder, plus his messenger bag, and carrying another bag in each hand.

"Thanks," she replied as she picked up the only bags left, a garment bag -- just in case they went somewhere nice -- and her purse. As she pulled the key out, Rodney looked around again. "So quiet here. Kinda reminds me of the beach on Athos . . . wow, we had some fun times there," he reminisced, a small smile on his face.

"We never have found another beach on the new planet, have we?"

"Honestly, with the increased workload that we've been carrying," he commented, pushing the door open for her, "as well as not being on the top ten list of things to do, I don't think we've really taken the time to find one." The air conditioning was a welcome feeling for them, and she went into the bedroom to hang up the bags as Rodney closed the door behind them and dropped his mess bag on the small table in the kitchen.

The unit was a small one bedroom, rather charming in its simplicity. The entry room was the living room, with a sofa, a love seat, and a small coffee table. Right behind them was the kitchen, the small dining room, and a door that led outside to a fenced in patio. Where the dining room and living room divided, there was a small hallway that led to the bedroom behind the living room wall, and the bathroom behind the kitchen.

"Wow, I could live here!" Rodney said to himself sotto voce. "This place is bigger than most of the quarters on Atlantis. Granted, it does include separate dining and living space, but it's rather -- umm, well--"

"Cozy?" Jennifer filled in for him, walking back in from the bedroom and taking a few bags from him.

"Yeah, to be honest," he replied. "It's nice, really, really nice!"

"Still haven't seen the bedroom," Jennifer taunted to him as she pulled his hand, leading him to that area of the unit.

A goofy, slightly stupefied grin crossed his face.

The covers in the bedroom were already pulled down, and the scent of fresh laundry detergent blanketed the room. She set the bags down near the foot of the bed as Rodney continued looking around.

"Wow, did I say this was nice? Jennifer?"

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Rodney turned around and saw that the doctor had managed to kick off her shoes before curling up on the bed and falling quickly into a deep sleep.

He sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He had been rather selfish not to notice how tired she had been these past weeks. And then she had planned all of this: the trip, the time off (and he was still wondering about what kind of dirt Jennifer had on Woolsey for them to have an "understanding" that would have persuaded him to give them time off on Earth), and she had driven here from the airport, about two hours away. He was starting to face it. Whether he liked it or not, the universe really didn't revolve around him; he was starting to be more considerate of other people. Well, not completely, but he was improving.

And he had Jennifer to thank for that.

He looked around, wondering if he should start unpacking or getting back to work on the laptop -- _but what's the use_, he grumbled, _when there's no Internet out here? Well, I'll just head up to the café and hook up to --_

"Rodney." A quiet yelp came from the headboard.

"Yeah, I'm here."

She lifted her head from the pillow. "I want you _up here_," she said, pointing to the pillow next to her, softly smiling as she lay her head back down.

He smiled, pushed his shoes off his feet, and moved up the mattress to join her. She wrapped an arm around his back and he responded in kind, pulling her closer, their bodies facing each other. As his weight settled into the mattress, he started to realize just how tired he was too.

He craned his neck, kissed her hair as he whispered, "I love you."

Eyes closed, she replied, "I love you too," and drifted back off to sleep.

Rodney was right behind her.


	5. Living in the moment

Longest chapter of the story, hope you enjoy!

* * *

They spent a couple days just wrapped up in themselves, not even bothering to leave the small resort. However, around dinner time on their second day, Rodney and his stomach made complaint to her.

She smiled at him. "All right. Well, there's a small market right down the road. We can get enough food for the rest of the week, so that'll give us enough time to enjoy ourselves and do some sight-seeing."

"Sounds good!"

So they'd gone shopping, Rodney had tried cooking and burnt the first dish, so after glancing at Jennifer, sitting peacefully on the lanai, he'd decided to keep the burnt item for himself and offer her the better food.

Albeit, grilled cheese wasn't the most romantic dish in the world, but she seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself. They started talking again, mostly just gossip and funny things that they'd heard before they left, and Rodney sighed sharply.

"What, what's wrong, Rodney?" she quickly asked, wondering if he'd accidentally put some lemon zest or something in the food.

"Landry told us that we needed to write up our reports before we left, and I was hoping that I could put it off until the last minute--" He took a bite of his sandwich and continued talking. "--you know, to make the most of our time here … but then I remembered that we're supposed to--"

"Rodney," she called to him.

He looked up at her, a gooey strand of cheese hanging down from his lips.

She burst out laughing, hugging herself and she raised her hand to her mouth, trying to force the laughter to subside.

"What?" he asked, lifting his arms up in the air.

She chuckled and, reaching over to touch his face, pulled the piece of cheese from his mouth. She dropped it down onto his plate, and he looked at the cheese, as if waiting for it to get up and perform for him.

"Nothing," she finally replied.

He looked back up at her. Smiling widely, he reached over for her hand. "I love you."

"I know," she responded, taking his hand. She glanced at his plate. "You almost done?"

"Yeah. Why?"

She looked around and noticed that the sky was turning all shades of red and orange. "Can we go take a walk on the beach?"

"Umm, yeah, sure! Just lemme grab the sun block."

"Uh, the sun just went down. There's nothing to block."

"Oh, ah, right."

She picked up their dishes and deposited them inside on the kitchen counter and picked up her jacket. The weather channel had predicted that a cold front was coming through, just over night, and so they had both dressed warmly; Rodney in a pair of khakis, his brown tennis shoes, and a long sleeve blue shirt with a gray tee over it.

She was wearing sandals. She thought it was ironic; they both grew up in cold winter environments, but for some reason whenever a cold spell came through, whether it be here on Earth or Atlantis, he always bundled up.

She was happy with a sleeveless shirt; ergo the jacket just so Rodney wouldn't criticize her.

They walked around the front of the units, holding hands and she curled up around his arm. From the corner of his eyes, he watched her for a moment, smiling contentedly, and his mouth quirked up as well. He stuffed his other hand in his pocket.

They walked out onto the beach and she left her shoes right by the end of the walkway. She took off her sweater, handed it to Rodney. "Hold this, would you?" she asked, and just as soon as he grasped hold of it, she took off running through the cold, soft pressed sand.

Rodney gaped in surprise for a moment, then laughed and followed after her, walking. "Jennifer! What are you doing?" he asked with a chuckle in his voice.

"I'm just living in the moment," she replied, arms stretched as she twirled in place, eyes closed and looking upwards.

"_Living in the moment_." That stopped Rodney in his tracks. His life had always been neatly planned out; even now, almost forty years of age, he still didn't like -- well he really hated it -- when some unexpected upset would occur. Of course, the more that they happened, the more adept he became at solving them and returning the city to its normal way of life.

But being with Jennifer, she had started incurring some changes. Every once in a while, sometimes after they'd spent the night together or if they'd both been so tired and irritable that they hadn't talked all day, in the middle of the night she would sneak into his quarters and, if they were dirty, she would clean for him. If they were amazingly clean, she would wake him up and, after five minutes of his grumbling, they would go for a early morning walk through the city.

He mostly complained for the first couple of minutes, but after a while, he would stop and the conversation would drift into heartfelt expressions and the kind of stuff that they would only write in a journal, confide in to a psychologist, or never say at all.

And after a few weeks of this happening, a lot of people had noticed that Rodney seemed -- just a little bit, just a tad -- more carefree, was the word that some of them had dared to use. He and Jennifer would regularly meet for lunch, and sometimes the others would join them. But most of the time, they seemed to be self contained in their own world that no one else would dare intrude upon.

His eyes came back to the present as she hugged him from behind, snuggling her face right between his shoulder blades.

"Jennifer, umm, there's something I . . . well there's something I wanted to tell you . . ."

_Did I just say that?_

"Yeah?"

_Oh. Guess I did. Here goes. Don't screw this up, McKay._

"Well, okay. Uh, you know I love you?"

"Yeah," she replied, sounding a little suspicious and sidling around to face him.

"Well . . . I didn't plan on this -- ooh, no, no, I meant, I didn't mean that I didn't plan on falling in love with you, but, oh, but since we are together, I've been happier than I could ever imagine. And I --" He sighed and matched his gaze with her. "I love you so much, and I can't imagine living without you, Jennifer."

She smiled, her face full of love and understanding. "I feel the same. Exactly."

"Now when I said that I didn't plan on this, I meant that I didn't plan on asking you to marry me but--"

"Rodney?!"

"Oh. Oh crap, I screwed it up, didn't I?"

Jennifer's mouth hung open in slight shock as her eyes darted around. Rodney closed his eyes in silent defeat until her hand touched his cheek.

In a quiet whisper that he could barely hear over the waves, she replied, "You won't screw it up as long as you don't take it back. Because God help you, Meredith Rodney McKay, I know a hundred different ways to kill you and if you don't finish what you were going to say, then I will kill you. In the slowest, most painful way possible. Lemons may be involved."

Rodney smiled at her. He took her hands into his and held them against his chest.

"Jennifer . . . will you marry me?"

* * *

Jennifer was up the next morning, cooking breakfast for her and her fiancé. She smiled, repeating that title in her mind.

She was glad that Rodney was done that; still in shock, but it soon cleared and she answered "Yes" and Rodney picked her up and kissed her.

She was happy that she remembered that McKay worked best under the threat of impending death. She was happily surprised to learn that it worked in the department of marriage proposals.

He didn't have a ring for her; she didn't care as long as she had him.

So today's trip was heading to a fancy shopping center for her to pick out a ring before they had to go back to Atlantis.

The IOA was gonna have a field day with this, she silently mulled to herself.

A pair of arms circled her waist, startling her with a jump. "Morning," Rodney greeted lazily, kissing the base of her neck.

She turned her head to see him. "Umm, morning to--" Kiss. "--you too."

He smiled and she shifted back to the eggs that were cooking in the skillet. "Scrambled, runny?"

"Scrambled. So, eggs, what else do you have?"

She used her spatula to motion to a plastic wrapped package of stripped, sliced meat laying on the counter. "Canadian bacon? Very nice," he said approvingly. He kissed the back of her neck via her hair. "You must love me."

"Well, I did say yes," she reminded him. She scooped the eggs onto a plate as he disengaged his hold on her. She caught sight of him out of the corner of her eyes.

_Oh thank God. He left his shirt in the other room._

He wasn't perfectly muscled and chiseled, like some others on the city that Jennifer knew of from first hand experience in the Infirmary. To some he was average, maybe a few pounds heavy, with a thin layer of hair over his chest. To Jennifer, he was perfect; he was hers. She'd spent last night memorizing everything about him as they'd lay awake for a few hours, till the sun came up.

Rodney caught her gaping at his body. "Jennifer?"

"Huh, yeah, right," and she turned back to the breakfast.

They ate quickly and Rodney was the one to pick up the dishes from the table, take them over to the sink and start washing them. She came and joined him. He washed, she dried. It worked for a while, until he started reaching over and pulling down the pink straps of her cami, kissing her shoulder while she worked.

"Rodney," she half-reprimanded, half-moaned.

She finished drying the last plate and turned to face him, wrapping arms around his neck, attacking his lips with hers. She waited for him to respond to her and he did, walking backwards with her until they found a wall, and his tongue danced around her lips.

And then the phone rang.

They sighed at the same time, breaking the kiss. Rodney groaned, realizing that it was his cell phone. "Hang on," he shouted, running into the bedroom to answer it.

"McKay. Yes, sir. No, not until Saturday. What?! Well, I mean, give me a few hours and I can re-- Uh, yes, sir. I understand. I'll call tomorrow morning when we're on our way." And he hung up.

He looked across the room to Jennifer. She was sitting at the dining room table, head in her hands. "Well, so much for our week," she mumbled.

He sat down next to her, reaching out to stroke her hand-covered cheek. "Hey, hey, it's okay. We have today and tomorrow, so that still gives us enough time to go ring shopping."

"Rodney--"

"What? Oh no, don't tell me you're backing out on me!"

She laughed and dropped her hands. "No, no! Of course not!" She sighed discontentedly. "It's just that, we had plans to visit Jeannie, to see my dad, and I would rather do that than ring shop. I mean, if we hold off on buying a ring, then we can figure out how to deal with the IOA and we can tell them when we're ready."

"You mean that you don't want anyone to know about us?" he asked, a stricken look on his face.

"No, that's not what I meant. We just have to take it one step at a time. I mean, you've never met my dad. How would it look if I show up and tell him you're my fiancé when he never even met you?"

"Like I'd knocked you up."

Jennifer smirked. "Yeah. Something like that."

"Okay, okay. I get what you're saying. We can wait. I'm fine with that. In the meantime, Doctor, I have a favor to ask?"

"What's that?"

"Can we go back to the beach? Please?"

Jennifer laughed and kissed his cheek. "On one condition."

"Name it!"

"Bring your laptop."

TBC

* * *

The fic bunnies came back to life and demanded I write the rest of this story. It ended up being too long and I didn't wanna end it all at once, so an epilogue will follow, and it'll tie up the loose ends, like, What is the special understanding with Woolsey? and Why did Jennifer pick this specific locale for their vacation? and … well, that's all the questions that I think went unanswered.

And yeah, I wasn't planning on Rodney proposing. That was totally the work of evil fic bunny!


	6. Epilogue

Sorry this took so long, but RL wouldn't quite interfering with McKeller world!!!

Hope ya enjoy this, this wraps everything up … and then I'm sure I have another prompt to start on …

And if anyone didn't watch "Brain Storm" Friday night … DOWNLOAD IT, FIND IT ON YOUTUBE, WHATEVER YOU DO, YOU MUST WATCH!!! I won't spoil anything, but I'll say this: the McKeller thread on GW was never as busy as it was that night … in a positive way!

Slight spoiler in this chapter for "Brain Storm" as well …

* * *

Jennifer finished putting on the last of her sunscreen, sitting on the lounge chair on the beach. They had decided to spend their last night here; they had a very good excuse to come back anyway. She was calling her dad tonight and telling him that while she had planned with her whole heart on coming to visit him, the powers that be had cut her vacation time short, so she wouldn't see him for another little while.

And, oh yeah, I have a boyfriend. Bye!

She smiled to herself, mind pondering the future phone conversation with him. She heard a shuffling behind her and she put her feet up on the chaise as he dropped his laptop bag next to him on the blanket. "So . . . are you happy?"

Sliding her sunglasses on, she replied, "Fairly."

He grinned as he put his sunglasses on as well. "Well I called Jeannie and talked to her . . . and she said that she understood and told me to tell you hi."

"Well that's nice," Jennifer responded. "Did you . . . you know, tell her about us?"

"I told her that we're dating, but I didn't mention anything about the engagement. Actually," he mentioned, a goofy grin coming over his face, "I'm still in shock about it. Not -- not bad shock, but just still surprised at myself that I did that and that you actually said -- wait, you did say yes, right?"

Jennifer nodded, laying back on the lounger. "Yes, Dr. McKay."

"Oh. Okay, just checking." He pulled off his shirt and laid it on the laptop bag, She glanced over at him and thought that he was drifting off, taking a nap, until--

"So you never answered my question."

"Rodney, I just said yes! Again!" she replied incredulously, turning on her side, facing him.

"No, no, not that," he amended, turning onto his side to face Jennifer. "Woolsey. What did you have to do to get a week long vacation out of the man? It couldn't have been easy . . . I tried to get him to approve turning the spare storage room behind the commissary into a private dining room and--"

"Rodney," she said in a slight tone of warning.

"Well, it had to be big! I mean, the man gave you a week off! In the middle of flu season!"

Jennifer smiled at the hypochondriac in Rodney. He knew full well that the flu season was practically non-existent on Atlantis, but he, along with a small number of other hypochondriacs in the city, mourned its passing, almost as if following a religion.

The customary three days -- four for Rodney -- that they annually spent in the infirmary were three days that Jennifer could have done without; even when she showed them detailed bloodwork, showing that they had no evidence of the influenza in their system, they refused to listen and passed the days. Miraculously, on the third day, the others would leave . . . and Rodney would stay, adding some ridiculous claim to his maladies.

Jennifer didn't mind _him_ staying a fourth day.

She sighed and allowed her mind to wander back to the present. Deciding to avoid the whole argument on the flu season, she simply stated, "We bartered. I did something for him, and he did something for me."

Rodney's face contorted into horror. "Oh my God, Jennifer, he's old enough--"

"Meredith Rodney McKay, get your mind out of the gutter this moment!" she exclaimed at him.

Rodney shrunk back into his chair. "Sorry."

"Understand me, if I tell you this, and you tell someone, not only will we both have violated doctor/patient confidentiality, but I'll fabricate your medical records so badly that you won't be able to get a job 100 miles within anyone who can correctly explain zero point energy. Understood?"

Rodney gulped. "Um, yeah. Yeah, I understand."

"Woolsey had a rash that showed very prominently on his neck, and I treated him for it and didn't make a note of it on his medical records."

"What kind of rash?"

"Rodney!"

"Hey, you've told me this much, might as well give me the whole story! What kind of rash?" he questioned again, suspiciously.

She sighed, closing her eyes in slight shame. "It was a . . . a hickey."

"A hickey?"

"When he came back to Earth a few weeks ago, I set him up with a professor that taught at my alma mater. That night, he had to return to Atlantis, and the next morning he had a meeting with the IOA delegation. So I covered it up for him, and I didn't make a note of it on his records because it had no bearing on his prior or future medical history, and I can't believe I just told you that," she said, hiding behind her towel as she pulled it up over her face.

When she lowered it past her eyes, she saw Rodney giving her the same kind, warm smile that he'd given her on the jet back from Tunney's demonstration. "Well, maybe not the most conventional type of bargain but that was kind of you . . . you know, giving him a chance. All brains deserve one."

She smiled, then glanced around. "Hey, have you tried working on your laptop at all since we got here?"

"That one time in town at the coffee shop."

"Out here, I mean?"

"No, why would I try it out here?!"

"Just humor me, Rodney. Please?"

Her pleading eyes worked and Rodney sighed, pulling out his laptop. "Fine, but don't expect anything."

"Just try to get an internet connection."

Having just been on sleep, his laptop pulled up easily and he started the short procedure of connecting to a network. "Jennifer, we're on a barrier island, why would -- what is this?" he asked rhetorically, staring at the screen in a mixture of excitement and shock. "There's wi-fi out here?!"

Jennifer smiled sheepishly. "I never did tell you the reason why I wanted to come here, did I?"

"Yeah, you said you and your dad used to come out here."

"Well, just before I left for Atlantis, Dad told me that they'd done a number of small renovations out here, one of which was adding a wi-fi network for the guests to keep up with the Jones, so to speak."

Rodney almost wasn't paying attention as he got access to the Internet and started surfing the Web. "Yeah and?"

"I remember you said one time, and I somewhat quote, 'A beach with fiber optics is great'?" Well, it's not exactly fiber optics but can you get wi-fi access on a beach in Pegasus?"

"Nuh-uh."

"And sitting next to your fiancée and surfing the Web at the beach is -- c'mon, Rodney, fill in the blank," she joked playfully at him.

He paused, closed the lid on his laptop, and smiled at her. "Being anywhere with you is awesome." He slid the computer back into his bag, and eyed Jennifer's swim suit for a minute. He sat upright, setting his feet back on the sand. "Thank you. Thank you so much, Jennifer. I honestly can't imagine a better vacation that this."

Suggestively, Jennifer replied, "Oh. Then just wait till the honeymoon. So that reminds me . . . now we get to start planning our wedding."

"Does that have to involve the groom as well?"

"Yes, Rodney, you are not shirking your responsibilities this time."

"Well, yes, I know that, but you know, the galaxy needs saving at least twice, if not three times a week. So we have to work out some kind of schedule around that."

"How about," she suggested, swinging her feet and planting them right on Rodney's own, "that you save the universe _once_ a week, and then you drop whatever little thing that you're doing that Radek can easily do himself, and we get together and start planning?"

"Once isn't going to do, and what I do is too much--"

"Rodney? Do you want me to marry you or not? Once a week, save the galaxy, get it out of your system, and then we'll work on planning."

"Three times."

"Twice."

"Three times!"

"Need I remind you of a little thing called humility? Once, and that's my final offer."

"Deal. But I'm telling you mmph--"

She abruptly cut him off with a kiss, and he completely melted into her as the sun shone only on them and they were the only two people left in the world.

Until his stomach grumbled.

* * *

So sorry this took forever to finish!!! Thank you all for your kind reviews and hopefully, RL will permit me to start chronicling more adventures of the awesomeness that is McKeller! Special shout-out to the McKeller thread on GW!!!


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